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Irish Open

Jordan Spiethsoars to the top of the DEAN & DELUCA Invitational leaderboard at Colonial Country Club, Forth Worth, in Texas.

Jordan Spieth/ getty images

Jordancarded a third round -5 under par 65 to lead the field after 54 holes of the DEAN & DELUCA Invitational, with a -12 under par tournament total.

Jordanhas has scrambled his way around the Colonial course this week, he had a stretch of 13 successful conversions until carding a bogey at his final hole, and that’s the key to his success;

“My scrambling was kind of the key to the day today.”

“Hopefully hit some more fairways tomorrow and make those aggressive swings.”

He also chipped in from 32 feet, from the fairway in front of the green, because of a poor wedge shot, for a birdie at the par five 11th hole;

“Not a great wedge, but a nice chip to make up for it.”

Sharing second place at -11 under par are Ryan Palmer, -4 under 66 today, and Webb Simpson, -3 under par 67 for his third round.

Ryanwas happy to get in the zone today;

“That’s when I felt it, that’s when you get what they call the zone, when you can put the pin anywhere and we’ll find it.”

“And that’s where I felt that, just the way I was swinging, the confidence I had with what I was doing with the golf ball.”

“I know I missed it everywhere on this golf course because I played it so many times.”

“But it helps knowing that, so I can get a lot more lower irons and wedges in.”

“When you’re dialed in, it’s fun, that’s for sure.”

Webbwas happy to be paired with Jordan today, and was upset to bogey the last to miss getting into the last group again with him tomorrow;

“I love playing with Jordan, that’s why I wish I had parred the last.”

“But it is what it is and I’ll go after it tomorrow.”

Harris English, -6 under 64 today, Kyle Reifers, -3 under 67 and Martin Piller -2 under 68, are tied in fourth place at -10 under par.

There are eleven players within five shots of the leader, so just about anyone could still card a low round tomorrow, and come through to win. Local boy Jordanwill trying to achieve his first win in Texas, so it will be tough to beat a fired up Texan.

Rory McIlroy won his first Irish Open last week, and he too was wearing Grey, is this the in color ?

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Søren Kjeldsen is the Irish Open Champion, which was hosted by the RoryFoundation at Royal County Down Golf Club in Northern Ireland.

Champion Søren & Rory / Getty Images

Sørenwon the Irish Open with a birdie on the first a play-off hole, against Bernd Wiesberger and Eddie Pepperell. In the tough cold and windy conditions only four players shot under par rounds today , and of the three leaders only Eddie was under par.Søren carded a +5 over par round which left him with a -2 under par total, to equal the scores of Eddie and Bernd.

In the treacherous conditions Søren dropped four strokes on the opening nine, and his nervous winning putt in the play-off did a 360 round the cup before falling;

“The last breath I took was on about the 14th.”

“I have never been as nervous as this in the other tournaments I have won.”

“I had decided not to look at leaderboards but once I started dropping shots I started looking because it gave me a little pleasure that I wasn’t the only one struggling because it was such a brutal day.”

“I was leaking shots left, right and center but made a great up and down on 15 and the three-wood second shot in the play-off was pretty special.”

Eddieproduced a bogey free -2 under par 69 round today, to get himself into the play-off on that score. Second place also gets him into the 144th, The Open Championship, at St Andrews;

“It’s great. It didn’t cross my mind until I walked off the 18th and my caddie told me.”

“That’s a real bonus, and I know my dad and a few friends had already planned to go up there regardless. So I’ll be looking forward to it already.”

“I had a good weekend, good day today and put myself into a position where I had a chance to win.”

“On the whole I’m very pleased I think.”

Bernd thought he had also reached in the par five 18th in two, in the play-off;

“I thought I hit a really good three iron, it was right online.”

“I don’t know how it came up that short. It was like 15-20 yards short from what I expected from that lie.”

“Just two bad chips on 18 that kind of cost me in the end to go to another extra hole.”

“But all in all, especially after last week, the way I played there, I have to be very proud and I’m quite happy with second place, and especially going into my favourite event in a couple weeks, I hope I can go one better.”

Joining the top three in The Open will be Tyrell Hatton, who edged out Rafa Cabrera-Bellofor a place after they finished in a tie for fourth place on -1 under par.

If you are wondering how tough the conditions were out there, take a look at Bernd;

Feeling the cold, Bernd Wiesberger/ Getty Images

These six leaders are closely followed by two heavy-weights, in the form of three-time Major winner Padraig Harrington and former world number one Luke Donald, both on -2 under par for the competition.

For third year in a row we have to say good-bye to Rory McIlroy, who missed the cut again here, worryingly it follows last weeks cut at the BMW. Rorysaid he had tried hie best, but the conditions made it very hard.

Rory missing cut/ Getty Images

Roryshot an even par round today, but it was not enough;

” I felt like I played OK.”

” I didn’t really; it’s hard like this in the wind conditions. It’s hard even if you give yourself birdie chances, it’s hard to take advantage of them.”

“I was trying out there as hard as I could, I just couldn’t quite get a good run of holes going.”

“I didn’t get any momentum going. I was a couple under through fourteen, but needed a good finish, but unfortunately wasn’t able to do that.”

“So really, just left myself with too much to do from yesterday. I felt like I played a solid round of golf today, but just wasn’t enough.”

The support out here is phenomenal, it’s going to be the third year in a row that they don’t get to see me play at the week-end.”

“So it’s obviously disappointing, to say the least, more disappointing for them.”

“I”m honestly looking forward to a few weeks off, to get ready for the U.S. Open, but right now it would have been nice to play the week-end at least.”

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World number one Rory McIlroy shoots +9 over par 80 in the first round of the Irish Open, But another home town boy Padraig Harrington has delighted the gallery with his first round performance. Just seven days ago the three-time Major champion was forced to retire, at Wentworth Club, for the first time in his career due to a shoulder injury . Today, he fired a -4 under par course record 67 to tie the lead at his home Open with German Maximilian Kieffer.

Padraig Harrington / Getty Images

Padraig and Maximilian shared the top spot on the first day of the Dubai Duty Free Irish Open Hosted by the Rory Foundation, both carding course record rounds of -4 under par 67 at Royal County Down Golf Club.

Padraig started slowly but finished with a flourish, making five birdies on the back nine compared to one bogey;

“After nine or ten holes I thought to myself, Come on, we’ve got to hit a good shot, no need to be afraid.”

“I know from experience now that I’m in a position where there’s many ways of competing in this tournament.”

“I’ve two options; play great from now on and try and get away from the field or play average and fight it out on Sunday afternoon.”

Soren Hansonis in third place at -3 under par after his opening round 68.

Rory said nothing went right as he struggled to his worst score of the season, and is now in danger of missing the cut at his own sponsored event;

Rory McIlroy/ A/P

“It was not quite as difficult as I made it look.”

“I was hitting it well on the range, keeping it down and hitting half shots, but the wind was not up that much on the course and I was caught between trying to play two ways. “

“My poor iron play led to missed greens, which led to giving myself a lot of 8- to 12-footers for pars, and that led to missing all of them, worse as I got closer to the green.”

“It’s disappointing because I want to go out there and play well, not just for myself but for a lot of other people.”

“I’ll just have to pick myself up and go out there tomorrow and shoot a good one. I want to give the fans something to cheer about and not just get sympathy claps as I got coming off the ninth green.”

“My goal will be to make some birdies, make my first birdie of the tournament at some point.”

I’ve missed the cut the last two years so I don’t want to make it three in a row. I want to at least go out there tomorrow and fight for it, try to claw my way back towards the cut line and if I can sneak in there, that’ll be great.”

Playing alongside Rory was Rickie Fowler, who carded an opening even par round 71 in his first outing since winning the Players Championship at Sawgrass. Luke Donald went one better with a 70.

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A wire to wire win for Mikko Ilonen at the Irish Open on Fota Island Resort course.

Mikko Ilonen (center) / Getty Images.

Mikko completed a wire-to-wire victory by winning the Irish Open at Fota Island Resort, a -1 under par 70 last round was enough to keep his one shot advantage, and lift the trophy with his -13 under par total. Mikko’s victory was inspired by the wire to wire win of Martin Kaymer at the U.S. Open;

“It was very much a Martin Kaymer inspired win, I sent a message to him last week that I really enjoyed watching golf. I very rarely enjoy watching golf; I would rather play golf, but Martin’s win inspired me. It was nice to keep that lead all the way.”

“I made sure that I paced myself well and I’m not too quick with things and keep my head up no matter what happens, and I kept on doing the same thing all the time, tried to hit the fairway. I hit a lot of greens today and kept okay pace with my putting.”

“I looked back on the 18th green and I couldn’t believe how many people there were. It’s nice to see , it was a very humble moment. I had a number in my head all week that I tried to get to and I missed it by a mile.”

He is definitely excited by the prospect of returning to Royal Liverpool for The Open next month;

“I’ve been thinking about it a lot since I qualified off the Order of Merit last year. I am looking forward to it and hope I can keep this run going. I would like to go in between those big crowds on Sunday, so that means I need to be a little bit better than 16th.”

Edoardo Molinariwas in second place, at -12 under par, a -4 under par 67 final round taking him up the leaderboard.

Three players tied for third place, Kristoffer Broberg, course record holder, Danny Willettand Matthew Baldwin finished at -11 under par. Danny could only return a final round of even par 71, after his record 64 yesterday, he had to be disappointed.

Edoardo, Dannyand Matthewhave also qualified for The Open at Hoylake after securing the three available places via the new Open Qualifying Series. Mathew edged out Kristoffer, due to his better world ranking.

Graeme McDowell struggled in the final round returning a score of even par, to dash his hopes of a home victory. He blamed a poor putting performance;

“Perhaps one of the worst putting weekends of my career when in contention. I let a lot slip away yesterday and continued in the same vein today.”

“So I’m kind of focusing on the big picture this week, looking at the summer and looking at the two Major Championships coming up and Ryder Cups and all kinds of fun things to look forward to. My game is in great shape and there are a lot of positives this week.”